Scratch on the Magazine
by Shacho Rufaasu
Summary: [A Trickster Online story, because there is no section for it!] She had finally done it, reached her goal of becoming the long soughtafter Entertainer. But now that she fights and works as a dancer and singer, more complications arise.. him included.
1. Chapter 1

**Scratch on the Magazine**

_A Trickster Online story_

**Chapter One**

Secelia most certainly never expected herself to ever get this far in her gamer life. She had originally come to Caballa Island about ten months ago, yes, ten months, away from her terrible home back in America, a home she hated so much. It was a retreat almost, but also a chance for a boost in her career she had been chasing after for so long.. to be some type of star. Just so she could rise above others and be a role model to all, an ability to make a positive difference in the world so other children her age or younger didn't have to go through the same torment. And to hear that she could make something of herself here – no matter where she came from – had made up her mind to come and try to find the lost treasure said to be hidden within the new island of the pacific; Don Calavier's fortune.

She still remembered fresh when she first came here. It was all very simple the process you went through. You come to the island on a free boat ride, knowing it was a way of escape or adventure for many, and upon arrival you were given a number of tests… personality, physical ability, mental ability, and psyche. By each test's results were you evaluated upon your type, which they would then give you the proper basic attire and animal attachments, since being on the island required animal cosplay. If you had a high physical ability, you were either a Bunny or a Buffalo. If you had a high mental ability, you were a Sheep or a Dragon. If you had a diverse personality, you were a Raccoon or Cat. If you had a high psyche, you were a Fox or Lion.

In the personality test, you were given a simple bubble fill-in test asking what you were lik,e things you liked, things you do, so on and so forth. In the physical ability, you were tested on how quickly you could complete three trials, such as running, jumping, and lifting. In the mental ability test, you were given flash cards and asked to solve the problems as quickly and as uniquely as possible, while getting the answer right of course. Finally, in the psyche test you had to go through objects, such as cards or a ball under the cup, and correctly guess where each given or announced items were in such amount of time.

Secelia ended up getting the highest grade in her personality test. She was neither upset nor happy, she wasn't sure what to think. The rest of her build, how well she would excel and raise in them as the NPCs explained, would be determined by the percentage of the rest of her results.

So, now, she had become a cat, a Model precisely, and her build ended up coming out as a 4114, which meant that her scores came out as 40 in Power (physical), 10 in Magic (mental) 10 in Sense (psyche), and 40 in Charm (personality).

She knew she wouldn't do so well with the psyche test, she was always terrible at guessing… it was the physical and mental that surprised her. Oh well, she assumed.

And now, after all that battling, trading, traveling, buying and selling; she was here now. Finally she had reached combat level 50, required by the second level Skill Masters to advance to the next level, her next Job, which was as an Entertainer. Being a model really wasn't much to her, all she did was show off to people, and she didn't like doing that much, even though it had its fun times. Fashion shows, advertising, and so on and so forth... As her motto went, _Fighter by Day, Model by Night_, which was how most Tricksters lived in this world. But now her motto might have to change.

"_Don't worry, your quest to become a splendid Entertainer is an easy one – all you have to do is get me sixteen dye sprays, twelve gold hand mirrors, twelve white powders, and twelve red clay doll shoes. If you bring me those, I will make you beautiful! You'll absolutely love it."_

As her second level Skill Master, Elicia, had told her. She liked that woman. She was kind to her; not that the other NPCs hadn't been. She had a fancy for Inventor Gale, he was a funny man, and nice to talk to here and there. As was the same with a few other NPCS… Alchemist Nate was another of her favorites, along with Hunter Yuri and Love Hunter Robin.

They were all very kind to her throughout her journey, and she appreciated it very much. But she never believed that such a quest, her goal to be Entertainer, would be so very difficult. It was all of those grueling long and hard ten months – crunched into _one_. Going to the higher level areas to run around, picking up spoils that other users didn't care to take, selling them for money to the kind Item Girl, and going off to the capital Megalopolis to find vendors who sold items and drills for a decent price – which most of them didn't, requiring more scrounging for Galders, as the currency was named on this island.

Eventually she simply gave up on drilling and went about saving money just to buy the items. It _still_ took long, but it made it a _little_ easier. With a bit of help from her friends, it made it a tad more easier, and eventually, by the end of the most horrible month of her Trickster life, she acquired each and every needed item…and she couldn't believe it. She carried them all with her, in her Disabled Person's Pocket, checking every now and then to make sure that they were all still there, even after she gestured Miranda to take her to the Caballa Relics, and then through Bunny Maid to the Relics town, Azteca.

After the bright swirling light of the teleportation softly landed her down on the sandy ground and faded away, she glanced around to see where she was exactly, and discovered that she was right by the second level Skill Masters. She smiled and quietly wandered over, walking up behind Inventor Gale, who was fidgeting with some little object on the ground idly, not even paying attention to his surroundings. Slowly she leaned down until she was by his shoulder, in which she muttered abruptly, "Boo."

He flinched at the very sound of her soft voice, and dropped down from his haunches and turned and looked at her. "Secelia! Don't do that when I'm working…" he groaned, as the both of them stood up. He huffed as she laughed, glancing around and then crouching temporarily to retrieve his item and tool he had been working with. "At least come about a little more predictably."

Once her giggling subdued she replied. "Sorry Gale… it's funny to scare you. You always jump… Makes me question why you're the Sense-type Skill Master." she averted his gaze as he glared, curling his lip. She smiled innocently.

"I am the Sense-type for a reason, thank you… but what say do you have in it? If I'm not mistaken miss Sece, you're a cat, which are strictly Charm-types, unless they've changed the system so drastically in the last two minutes." He then set his little unidentifiable object away along with his tool within his coat, and then waved his hand about. "Anyway… what brings you around here? Haven't seen you in a while."

"Oh! Well.." she pulled around her Disabled Person's Pocket and opened for him to glance in, pushing up his thin glasses. "I have my second job items. I was coming here for Elicia, but I saw you first." She grinned at yet another scowl.

"I see. So I'm merely a vent for your torture practice…I wish whatever spouse you have in the future luck. They'll need it…" He then chuckled and crossed his arms as she gaped at him shockingly. "I'm only kidding, Secelia. Anyway, Elicia's right over there, she just finished with another cat that had come along a little while ago. Go ahead and go see her, I'm sure she'll be happy to see you."

She glanced over to where Gale had pointed, and sure enough there was Elicia, loitering about and being her free spirited self, watching a butterfly intensely as it flew around her, following it and going around in circles. Secelia smiled and wandered over to her quietly, and once nearby, stood and watched her play; becoming confused as to why she couldn't catch the butterfly.

"You know, if I were a butterfly, I wouldn't like to be caught in the hands of someone three thousand times my size. It'd rub off all my dust and I could never fly again, and die." she said matter-of-factly, smiling. When Elicia finally stopped, she walked up to her.

"Oh! Secelia! Hello gorgeous!" she greeted, smiling broadly and coming close to her friend, grabbing her hands and waving them around. "So, so, did you do as I asked, got the items?" She seemed rather excitedly, dancing about and dragging Secelia with her, humming along the way.

She giggled. Elicia was so bubbly, it matched with her frilly pink outfit. Nodding eagerly, she pulled out her disabled person's pocket yet again and opened it and took out all of the items, laying them out for her orderly and neatly upon the ground. "Sixteen dye sprays, twelve gold hand mirrors, twelve white powders, and twelve clay doll shoes… it was no easy trip I tell you!" she huffed, placing her hands on her hips cutely after she had closed up her bag. "I went through so much crap to get these items!"

Elicia smiled and giggled innocently, dancing and twirling around her. "But you got them!" she sang in a sing-song voice. She stopped and bent down, counting them. Her grin broadened. "You got all your items, and so quickly! I didn't expect it… well, you've proven you're worth job changing to me!"

"Yay!" Secelia exclaimed happily, dancing around a bit herself. She slowed down and watched Elicia, mirroring her smile "Okay so, now what do we do?"

"First! We.." Elicia began, raising her arm to the air, followed by a dramatic pause. She lowered it to point at her. "We need to train you! I'm going to teach you singing and dancing skills. Sorta like what Tiphereth taught you, but a little more complicated. Then after that!" she paused to twirl around in a circle. "We level you up, give you some experience, and then give you a make over! Yay!"

Once Secelia agreed to the project, Elicia led her into another Aztecan building nearby, where all of the second job training was held. She closed the curtain in front of the door, indicating that training was in process.

She was finally going to be an Entertainer. She was so welled up with excitement she could barely focus, but managed to do so, knowing that in a matter of hours all those months of fun, sadness and frustration would finally pull off.

--

"Okay now, sing this for me… _ah-ah-Ah-ah-ahhh._" Elicia sang, waving her finger in the air to indicate note level. They had been working on simple scales, for the past two hours in fact, along with a bit of dancing. It wasn't very difficult at all, but this washer third day of Entertainer training. But as promised, this was her final day. Secelia had managed to complete everything Elicia had asked her to do, some even better than her. "Yay! Good job!"

After another hour they did dancing. Elicia would twirl and bounce and skip and frolic, and Secelia had to do everything she did. And she did it rather well, at that. "Great!"

Once the day was beginning to end, Elicia finally had her sing to a song and dance to it as well. After a bit of practice, she had managed to pass it. Elicia bounced and twirled and cheered. "Yay! You did it so well! I'm so proud. Come, come!" Quickly she ushered her into the other room, and Secelia followed blankly.

It was a small studio for hairdressing and such. Being that it was in Azteca, it wasn't very fancy at all. Stone walls and floors, torches to light, carpets and simple furniture, just like the rest of the adobe building. She wasn't at all surprised. "So what are we here for?" she asked curiously, glancing around.

Elicia smiled and bounced in front of her, hooking her hands behind her back and swaying back and forth. "Well, my dear Secelia, you've come to pass training! So now, I get to make you all beautiful!" she highlighted the word with a fancy pose, extending her arms towards her and shaking her hands. She giggled, and spun around. "So are you ready? It'll be a big transformation!"

In the Trickster world, all users who joined the game were typically given a default set appearance of a certain age, what and however they appeared at that age, even if they had passed it or hadn't reached it yet. Usually the appearance coming on was about fourteen or fifteen, and afterwards normal body growth standards applied, so it would seem the users aged normally, and being that the game had been going on for two years now, none of the senior users who still remained in their first class jobs looked any older than sixteen or seventeen or so. But once users had their second job advancement, they went all the way in appearance to that of a twenty to twenty-two year old, and yet again regular aging would continue. Even still, every user remained looking no older, at most, than twenty-four. Secelia was a bit nervous about that fact, but she had been looking forward to this event for so long, so she was prepared. Change was good, after all.

"Yeah, I'm ready." she replied with a smile, setting her hands on her hips. She tilted her head to the side. "What do I have to do?"

Elicia smiled and twirled. "Absolutely nothing my dear! The first part of the transformation is your age appearance. Ready for it? I know you are! So let's do this.." She spread out her arms again, then paused. "Oh wait! I forgot you have an opinion on the clothes you wanna wear.. So.. What are your favorite colors?"

She blinked. That was unexpected. "Black, red, and white."

"Okay, okay!" Elicia placed her fingers to her temples and closed her eyes really hard, thinking for a moment. "I got it!!" she said after along pause, and spread her arms again. She cracked her knuckles, then stretched them out towards her as she backed up a step. "Now just close your eyes dear, and this NPC will do her work..!"

Secelia watched for a moment as suddenly a blue seal appeared beneath her, as they usually did when one was casting a spell. It had the usual symbols of the Charm type along it, but then the seal grew a bit wider and shone a brighter blue, and then she was suddenly suffocated in the light, making her gasp and shut her eyes as she had been told to do. For a moment everything seemed to black out.. But then it came back to her, and she could feel the energy surging through her body and whirling all around her. Just as quickly as it had started, it ended.

As soon as the light faded and she was allowed to blink, feeling rather dizzy and a bit indifferent, Elicia looked to her and smiled, giggling and clapping her hands as she skipped. "Just look at how beautiful you are!" She gestured over to the land standing mirror nearby, and she quietly walked over to it, feeling a bit nervous. But as soon as she saw herself, she gapped and placed a hand to her mouth.

Elicia had done a magnificently splendid job. She was about six inches taller, and little more built but still slender, voluptuous, and of course had the regular Entertainer clothing, but in its own colors. A low cut black top with red lining and white beads along it that stopped blew her chest to show off her abdomen; a black and red plaid pleated short skirt; dark red stockings; black boots with white fur around the mouth and white soles; white straps hanging from her white belt; and a black choker hanging loosely around her neck with a small cross on it. Her hair was still the same however, plain long and bright blue, but her cat ears and tail were now also black rather than calico.

"Elicia! It's.. it's positively beautiful! I'm speechless!" she gasped, still staring herself in the mirror, twirling around here and there and examining every bit of herself to make sure it wasn't fake, even feeling along her clothes and legs. "My goodness!"

Elicia giggled and hopped up and down. "Oh dear, it's you who's beautiful! Now come, I didn't bring you into a hair dressing room for nothing, we still have to do your hair and bit of makeup! I hadn't made you get those mirrors, powders, and dye sprays for nothing!"

She blinked and turned to her, tilting her head as she followed her gesture to the seat in front of the dresser. "What about the clay doll shoes?"

Elicia tilted her head this time, placing a finger to her chin. "I don't know! I just like collecting them… plus the head NPCs told me it had to be at least four items, so.. There ya go!" She began playing with her hair, weaving her fingers through it and feeling it around. "Oooh I'm going to make you so pretty, then by tonight, I can assign you to your first job location!"

She did a delicate job with her hair, first washing it out with numerous shampoos and conditioners, then cut away at it. Originally her hair had gone to the middle of her back, but after Elicia cut it, it went just a little past her shoulders. She then made it a bit wavy and curled at the tips here and there, making the hair full and lively and not so plain any longer. She then brushed it out and then set in the dye, making all but one side of her bangs a vivid jet black color. The last remaining bit she didn't get she bleached white, just for it to stand out like the rest of her. Following that she added in special creams and oils, to make sure that her hair stayed strong and beautiful and vivid no matter what. That was where the dye sprays came in handy.

Even though she only had to use one, she gave her a gold hand played mirror so she could watch her work and see how she was progressing. She was already astonished by the hairdo, but now she was adding just a bit of makeup, hence came in handy for both the mirror and the white powder, lightening up her skin and accenting here and there. She did one final brush over through her hair before she finished and allowed her to stand and look into the full length mirror once more.

"I still can't find the right words to say," Secelia said quietly, turning and looking at herself allover once more, even flipping her hair here and there, then quickly fixing it. "Except, thank you! I've waited so long for this.." she turned to Elicia and bowed deeply. "Thank you so much, Elicia!"

She smiled and waved her hand. "Oh dear! Hehe, you're so adorable! It's no problem at all really, I do this a lot… I'm glad you like it! Now then.." she wandered over and lead Secelia out of the room and back into the front, looking around and finally finding her little mechanical notepad that all NPCs seemed to have on them… Elicia wasn't always the best about it, though. "We need to find a job location! Somewhere you can dance and sing and be beautiful to everyone as an Entertainer!" She twirled as she said this of course.

Secelia giggled and walked over, looking over her shoulder as she brought up the list on her device. "Okay then, let's see what's available…"

--

_The Feline's Buckler_ was the name of the tavern she was assigned to. Yes, a tavern -- a bar and pub meant for all ages, but on some nights they called them "adult nights" … nights where only second classes were allowed to attend, and those of fitting age. Those of course, were the types of nights that Secelia wouldn't be looking forward to as much, being that they were… well, adult-contended, she'd think for now.

It was already well into night time, and of course by this point training just after job change wasn't an option…she had to attend to this bar, whether or not it was a strictly voluntarily on-call job. So, with all of her equipment stowed away safely in her bank, she headed to Megalopolis, the capital of Caballa Island, where the tavern was located.

It wasn't very hard to find, either. Just after she had asked a passing school girl where it was located, she had found it without even trying…because she had passed by it earlier. _Oops,_ she thought, _I need to be a little more observant…_

She politely moved passed a group of Tricksters into the bar, pushing through a few more people. The bar was noisy and congested with people, but she wasn't at all surprised. Elicia had told her this place was rather popular among the ranks… the smell of smoke and alcohol was evident in the air, but not thick. She liked that, meant it was normal and controlled. After glancing around for a moment, jumped when a voice greeted her. "Why hello there beautiful! How can I help ya?"

She turned and noticed it was another Entertainer, with bright blue hair like hers had used to be. She smiled kindly. "Oh, hello. My name is Secelia, I was given a spot here by NPC Elicia, I've just had my job changed." she explained simply, folding her hands together.

The other woman smiled and nodded. "Oh, right, Secelia… We were expecting you, but I didn't expect someone to pretty such as yourself. Come this way dear, we'll get you set up and everything."

Secelia followed the woman through the bar. She greeted a person here and there, but Secelia remained quiet and smiled and nodded to others when they glanced her direction or gave her a greeting. Once they reached the far end, where there was less people about and a large thick maple wood door, the woman paused a moment as she pressed her hand against it. "Oh by the way Hun, my name's Aracelia. But you can all me Ara if you want to." They exchanged smiles, and then she pushed through the double doors and Secelia followed obediently.

She was greeted by an entirely different atmosphere. Unlike the bar which was darkened bunch of plain colors such as brown red and gold, this area was entirely white with a few differently colored carpets upon the floor here and there. She looked around to assert to her surroundings, seeing numerous doors with name tags on them, woman and men alike dressing, cleaning, and working, some of them glancing up and smiling at her. She waved back.

Aracelia stopped at the end of one hall where a door with a blue star and moon and a banner around it labeled 'Manager' was on it, outlined in black. "Lemuel? Secelia from Azteca is here." she spoke up, and waited for a confirmation that they could enter, and she pushed open the door, gesturing for her to follow, and she did, her hands still folded in front of her. Aracelia smiled kindly, and gestured to the Card Master sitting in the office chair. "This is Lemuel, our manager. Go on, don't be shy, say hello."

Lemuel was rather tall, wearing a dark red suit with white Celtic designs lining the sides of his pants, and regular red hair that they typical had. He smiled at Secelia and stood, extending his hand. "Secelia, I imagine. Thank you for coming… you look positively stunning."

Secelia blushed slightly and took his hand, shaking it lightly before claiming it back. "Thank you, I've received so many compliments… it really isn't my doing, it's all because of Skill Master Elicia. I owe her so much thanks for bringing me this far." she replied, bowing slightly. "I'm glad you accepted me to work here…"

He nodded and chuckled softly, crossing one arm over his chest and resting the other on it so that he could hold his chin. "Yes, that Elicia is quite the wonder worker. It's no problem at all really, we've been looking for some new Entertainers to take our stage. Are you ready for it?"

"Yes! At least, I believe I am.." she replied shyly, glancing away, Both Aracelia and Lemuel giggled. She tilted her head innocently.

"Don't worry dear, we'll make sure you're ready, don't worry about that." Aracelia assured her, patting her back lightly.

Lemuel nodded once more and extended his hand again. Secelia shook it gently as before. "Then, my dear, you have yourself a job. Welcome." he said with a confident smile, then grasped her shoulder. "You'll do just fine here, I promise."

"Thank you, manager Lemuel… Secelia smiled shyly and nodded quietly. She had reached her goals… and now she had something worth looking forward to, a new job and possibly a new set in life of a Trickster.

---

End of Chapter, reviews shall urge me to continue.


	2. Chapter 2

**Scratch on the Magazine**

_A Trickster Online Story_

_---_

**Chapter Two**

---

_The Feline's Buckler _was getting into the later hours of night when other Tricksters from around the island began to become more frequent. As if it hadn't been before, but now the bar was in a good full number, or at least close to it. A few more will still just arriving, hearing that there would be a show tonight to recognize and new comer. It wasn't very common at this bar, and the shows usually held here were something to talk about for a while. Even if they sucked.

Coming in the door last was a small group, two warriors, a magician, and an inventor. All of them had their equipment off, but the staff knew them as regulars, and greeted them kindly. They returned the gestures politely and went and found themselves a table in the middle-front. Aracelia came right over to get orders from them.

"Why hello there boys! I'm not surprised to see you, how nice of you to visit. What would you like to drink?" she asked kindly, leaning over to the side a bit. She smiled and flipped her hair. "Our special tonight is Sea Anemone Rum."

"Sea Anemone Rum? That sounds awkward. I'll have myself a, um.. Pineapple Draft." the lion spoke up, smiling a bit. One of the buffalos gave him a strange look.

"You're awkward, Karnz. I'll try one, specials are always cheaper right?" asked once, leaning over towards her. She smiled and leaned away.

"Fifty galder off, you betcha." she replied, and then glanced at the dragon and the other buffalo. "How about you boys?"

"No, we're fine, thanks.." they both replied in unison, then glanced at each other, then away.

Aracelia giggled and tapped her notebook. "Alrighty then, I'll have those up for you soon."

Karnz raised his hand towards her before she had an opportunity to walk off. "Hey Aracelia, I heard there's a show tonight. What is it?"

"Oh," she paused a minute and turned back to him, pointing at the stage. "We got ourselves a new girl, real pretty, I think you might like her." With an exchanged wink and smirk, she headed off to the back to get their drinks.

"Oh boy, a new girl." said the dragon eagerly, smirking wide. "I can't wait for this."

"Now Keith.." Karnz began, waving his hand and sighing. "You can't boo her and shout how much she sucks this time. It throws them off.. They only suck because of you."

Keith grunted and shook his head. "Yeah, I've been told _that_ before… by a fox." The rest of the table laughed. "She only sucked because of me!"

"Funny." Karnz muttered sarcastically, shaking his head and rolling his eyes as he looked away. "You neither, Louis.. And Xandis, don't encourage him."

Both the buffalos snapped their fingers. "Oh, damn." Xandis muttered, and leaned his cheek against his hand, propped up on the table. "Oh well, if the girl's pretty like Ara says, I'm sure it can't be too bad."

"Yeah well, you know what they say about pretty girls.. Exchange brains for makeup, _hahaha!!_" Louis said, and once more, all but Karnz laughed, he just grumbled and decided himself to ignore them.

It wasn't that he wasn't in a particularly good mood tonight, just that these three often embarrassed him and he wasn't too fond of it any longer. They dragged him _everywhere,_ and if he was ever lucky he'd get time alone to train, and usually it wasn't too hard to lose them. But he couldn't deny coming here, he always had, just because. Unlike the rest of the attendants here, however, he wasn't much of a pervert, and watched for the entertainment, not the cleavage.

Karnz had come to Caballa Island about a year ago. He wasn't a very senior player though, he trained here and there, did quests other times, and just went around and traveled or played around. He was here just to play the game and escape reality, and even though most other Tricksters had come here for the same reason, he had no specific reason or goal that he was working towards really. He tried not to waste his time with people that seemed inexperienced and unable to understand simple concepts of the game, and as it seemed now, it got dragged towards those types of people anyway.

As much as people thought, he had only job changed recently. About two days ago, in fact, but unlike most inventors, he had a gun that packed far more firepower than he knew what to do with at his level, hence why others believed he was a superior player, but really, he still had half the world to explore. He wasn't very diverse, only going where he had to, and deciding to remain ignorant upon others. That was just his style. And to stand out even more, he changed his outfit's colors at job change just like anyone else. Even though the standard and most common of Inventor colors were white, blue, and black, he decided to be black, white, and silver. His hair as well was a jet black, and combined with his attitude towards others it only raised the volume in his persona that he was not one to trifle with or make upset.

But he didn't want people believing he was an angry or cruel anti-social type either, he was actually the exact opposite. Merely the people he tended to hangout with annoyed him and he'd rather be somewhere else. But the thought of a new show in his favorite bar tonight peaked his interest and he couldn't let down on it.

His thoughts were suddenly interrupted as the lights dimmed and people among the crowd began to cheer, clapping their hands just as a card master MC stepped out onto the stage, which was now lit up by a single spotlight. He waved to a few people and the rest of the crowd, adjusting the mike that was clipped to his shirt collar.

"_So how's everyone doing tonight?_" he announced loudly, raising his arms to the air. Upon receiving a loud shout out from the crowd, he chuckled and spun around. "_Alright then!!_ _We should have the show going on here in a few minutes…! Tonight we have a young fresh new girl, and her name's Secelia! She'll be doing a solo to prove that she's got what ti takes to stay here. So yay or nay her, but not until after the show!_" As the crowd gave a cheer of agreement, he bowed and stepped back, pulling aside the curtains. "_Then the show shall begin momentarily!"_

The MC quickly went back stage, to where Secelia was. She was obviously nervous, fiddling with a small piece of paper in her hand, crumpling and tearing at it. He reassuring patted her shoulder. "Hey, calm down, you'll do just fine. Just dance how you want, don't worry about judgment. We already told you what song we're going to play, so you're prepared, right?"

She sighed and nodded quietly. "Yeah, I'm just scared, that I'll mess up or something." she replied softly, even though that his dance was completely freestyle, others in the crowd might not think so. But then again she wasn't sure at all how this establishment worked, so she'd just have to try. "I'll be fine…"

He patted her shoulder once more and jumped back further stage. "Good girl, remember you come out on cue!"

Secelia sighed, throwing the piece of paper away, and exhaled deeply, remembering what Elicia had taught her, and took a moment to relax herself before she heard the cue about a minute later, and quickly bounded out onto the stage confidently.

Everyone cheered loudly as she came out, just as the MC announced, "_And here's Secelia!_" The music began, and so she followed along with it, swirling, twirling, bouncing and swaying, and the audience remained quiet through out the entire performance.

Karnz watched with extreme interest. She was very different from other beginner Entertainers… were they sure she was new? He took out his Spyglass device, a mechanical item used in the game to check another user's level, amount of experience, and so on. He raised it up slightly, just enough so he could scan her without detection.

_User_

_Secelia Ovral_

_Job: Entertainer_

_Level 51_

_Experience percentage: 7_

_Info: Elevated to Level 51 following Job Change. Job Change occurrence: two and a half hours ago. Trained by Skill Master Elicia._

"Interesting.." he muttered quietly, placing the device away after saving the information. He glanced up and continued watching her every move, his eyes following her sways and kicks and twirls, and slowly he felt himself begin to smile… if he wasn't so fixated, he would have noticed. Until it was pointed out, anyway.

"Hey look, he's smiling." Louis muttered to Xandis, who glanced over. He snickered and they both glanced back at the Entertainer, than at him. "Hey Karnz.. Karnz…"

His gaze didn't leave Secelia "What?"

"Have a fancy, now do ya?" he asked, his smirk remaining, When received a harsh glare, he gestured towards the girl. "Oh come now. You're staring like she's a piece of meat."

For some reason, that heavily insulted him. "She is _not_ a piece of meat, Louis. I don't know what your beliefs are, but females are not meant for playthings… or to be called food."

Louis laughed. "Whoa man, sorry. Didn't know you cared that much."

Karnz ignored him, and continued watching silently. After a minute, he got up out of his seat. "You know what? I'm going to the bathroom." he said lowly, and walked off.

"I still think he's in denial." Louis muttered to Xandis, and him and Keith nodded silently.

But really, Karnz had lied to them. He wasn't at all needing to go to the washroom, instead he smartly moved to another section of the bar where there was another free table still close by to the stage. There he sat, waving to some people nearby, and decided to lounge since there was plenty of room there. He crossed once leg over the other, leaning part of his back against the table, which wasn't at all uncomfortable.

As he watched her sing with her smooth young voice, he smiled and watched her move. She was definitely different, something else. Not only was she actually pretty and cute rather than sexy or hot, she was much more skilled than other Entertainers of her level. _She has a true passion for what she does, unlike others._ he thought, and grinned once more.

_I have to meet you some day._

--

Short chapter, I know.. But I just wanted to enter Karnz and have him acknowledge Secelia. More next chapter


End file.
